Hearing set for players accused in robbery case

Tuesday

Feb 19, 2013 at 11:42 AM

Hearings have been set in the cases of two suspended University of Alabama football players accused of robbery and fraudulent use of a credit card. A joint preliminary hearing for Eddie Williams and Brent Calloway has been scheduled for March 19 in Tuscaloosa County District Court, according to court documents filed this morning.

By Stephanie TaylorStaff Writer

Hearings have been set in the cases of two suspended University of Alabama football players accused of robbery and fraudulent use of a credit card.

A joint preliminary hearing for Eddie Williams and Brent Calloway has been scheduled for March 19 in Tuscaloosa County District Court, according to court documents filed this morning.

The attorney for D.J. Pettway has requested a hearing, but one had not yet been set.

Defendants usually choose to waive a hearing if they are out on bond and if prosecutors have already shared discovery evidence, such as police reports and other investigative documents.

If a judge finds enough evidence to continue prosecution of a defendant, or if the defendant waives the district court hearing, cases are sent to a grand jury for consideration. A grand jury can either throw out a case or choose to indict a defendant, which would then send the case through circuit court.

Alternately, a defendant can choose to enter a guilty plea before being indicted. Those who do are often sentenced to pre-trial diversion programs, such as drug court.

Attorneys for Williams, 20, Calloway, 18, and Pettway, 20, have all requested that a judge grant the men youthful offender status.

An attorney for Tyler Hayes, 20, had not yet filed any documents in his case as of this morning.

Williams is accused of robbing two University of Alabama students during the early morning hours of Feb. 11, taking a laptop and a wallet. Pettway and Hayes are accused of participating in one of the robberies and being present during the other.

Williams and Calloway are also accused of fraudulent use of a credit card. Investigators said that they used one of the victim's student identification cards to purchase items from a vending machine in Bryant Hall, the athletic dorm on campus where they lived.

All of the men have been suspended from the UA football team. All but Calloway have been suspended from attending classes and are not allowed on campus. Hearings scheduled by the school's Office of Student Judicial Affairs are expected to be conducted this week, according to a UA spokeswoman.